Sweet Potato Quick Bread

If your holiday is anything like ours, there will be plenty of leftover sweet potato because we make enough for a small city. There are few things appealing about using leftover sweet potato aside from pushing the container to the back of the refrigerator and letting it turn into a science project. But this easy quick bread might change your mind.

Think of it as repurposing with purpose because it also doubles as a thoughtful little holiday gift or two or three from your kitchen.

It is a two-bowl affair with one whisk and spoon. No fancy gadgets necessary. The recipe is easy, goes together quickly (quick bread, right) and best of all, it isn’t pumpkin.

Not only that, but it frees up a bit of refrigerator space for leftovers like turkey or cranberry sauce, and lots of egg nog. Or chocolate cake.

Sweet potato quick bread with breakfast, or mid-morning with another cup of coffee, or even after dinner when the carb craving comes calling are what we call a happy thing.

We really like this kind of quick bread. It’s easy to make and usually the ingredients are on hand in the cupboard – though they might be hiding in the back (mine). It’s almost good for you.

Now those orphan left-over sweet potatoes have a purpose. If you make them in these mini loaf pans (spendy in retail shops but less spendy in bulk) you can send some home with your holiday guests or bring some to the neighbors who make your life easier. Gifts from the kitchen are always appreciated, especially when they taste this good.

This is a generously sized quick bread meant to be shared. Be sure to measure your loaf pan because it is too much batter for an 8.5x4.5 pan. You'll want to make a couple of tiny loaves (or muffins) to give as gifts with the rest of the batter. If your pan is 9x5, however - all the batter will fit. You can add some chopped pecan to the top of the batter for a more festive look if you like. Serves 8-10, generously.

Ingredients

390 grams Canteen flour blend (3 cups) (see notes)

150 grams granulated sugar (3/4 cup)

50 grams brown sugar (1/4 cup)

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon ginger powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

250 grams (canned or leftover) sweet potato puree (1 ¼ cups)

115 grams Greek yogurt (1/2 cup)

220 grams neutral vegetable oil (1 cup)

3 extra large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Zest of one medium orange

120 grams roughly chopped pecans (1 cup) (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray (alternatively, use an 8.5-inch x 4.5-inch pan plus one to two tiny gift loaf pans or plan on up to 6 small muffins).

In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and nutmeg. In a small bowl whisk together sweet potato puree, yogurt, oil, eggs, vanilla and orange zest until well blended. Add to flour mixture and fold until the batter is smooth. Fold in nuts, if using. Scrape batter into prepared pan a little more than half full and bake 30 minutes. Rotate pan and bake 30-35 minutes more or until a toothpick comes out without crumbs in the center or (even better) an instant read thermometer reads 200°F when stuck in the center of the bread. Cool pan on rack on its side for 15 minutes and then remove bread right side up on rack and cool to room temperature before slicing.

For mini loaves bake about 20-30 minutes - for muffins bake about 16 minutes, taking care to remove them from the oven when a toothpick comes out without crumbs.

Notes

Canteen flour blend is 2 parts superfine brown rice flour plus 1 part each superfine white rice flour and tapioca flour by weight. See About Flour or Resources: Flour for more information.

Thanks, Shirley. I feel badly for those poor sweet potatoes stuck in the back of the refrigerator (at least in our house). They needed a job. And quick bread seemed like a good idea. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Mmmm….this bread is tasty! From now on I’ll always be sure to make mountains of sweet potato casserole (I make the kind with the praline topping) just so I can make this bread. The specks of topping throughout the bread was a yummy surprise. Also, I used chopped sugared nuts (apparently I was going for sugary rather than healthy). I was worried this was just going to taste like pumpkin bread but it really doesn’t, this bread has its own delicious unique taste. Thanks for the amazing recipe!

Hi-recipe sounds yummy, just the thing I want to make for my sweet potatoes. For the flour I only have brown rice flour and tapioca. Could I do a mixture of more brown rice flour? I also have all sorts of other non wheat flours; almond, coconut, etc..thank you!

Hi Lisa. You could give it a try and experiment. I’ve not made it that way, so don’t really know how it would come out but the difference might be very slight. Best bet is by weight since brown and white rice are different weights/per cup. Let me know how it works if you give it a try.